Angelina Jolie 'AlwaysKnew' She'd ShareSurgery Secret, SaysDoctor

Aug 18, 2013 6:13AM
|
by
Glynnis MacNicol

Splash

Angelina Jolie never had any plans to keep her double mastectomy a secret, her doctor has revealed.

In an interview in the September issue of Los Angeles magazine the surgeon who performed the procedure, Dr. Kristi Funk of the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Beverly Hills, says that despite the fact the star is "intensely private" she planned the entire operation with the intention of sharing it with the public.

"She waited to find the perfect timing in her personal and professional life," says Funk, "but I think most importantly in her soul. She is intensely private, but she calculated the moment when she would be ready to reveal something so personal."

Jolie, who is a carrier of BRCA1 gene, which dramatically increases her risk of developing the disease, lost her own mother to breast cancer.

This past May Angelina announced to the world she'd had a secret double mastectomy performed; something she'd chosen to do to help ensure a long life with the six children she shares with Brad Pitt.

"I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."

Funk says that Jolie, who is also Special Envoy for the United Nations refugee agency, "knew always that in her philanthropic core she couldn’t keep this a secret and be who she is. She always knew.